ROCK ‘N’
ROLL HEROES
Gamers display their rock skills in Guitar Hero tournament. SEE TRENDS PAGE 6
LOST AT BAT
Trip to Austin an unsuccessful one for Texas State baseball SEE SPORTS PAGE 10
DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
WWW.UNIVERSITYSTAR.COM
FEBRUARY 21, 2007
WEDNESDAY
VOLUME 96, ISSUE 57
City extends contract with lobbying firm
A pillow for Spenlow
By Scott Thomas The University Star
Jon Clark/ Star photo
Raini Burnside, theatre senior, playing Joanna Markham hounds Tyler Wallach, theatre freshman, whose character is Alistair Spenlow during the dress rehearsal for the British sex farce Move Over Mrs. Markham Monday. Shows start 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are on sale for $5 for students at the Theatre Building Box Office. SEE TRENDS PAGE 5.
Judge dismisses MySpace negligence lawsuit By Philip Hadley The University Star The $30 million lawsuit against the social networking site MySpace, filed by the family of a 14-year-old Travis County girl, was dismissed last week by a federal judge. The girl, whose pseudonym is Julie Doe, claimed she was sexually assaulted by 19-year- old Pete Solis, of Buda, after they met online through MySpace. The lawsuit, which was filed June 19, cited negligence and fraud on the part of MySpace and its owner, News
Corporation. The family’s attorney, Adam Loewy, said Monday he plans to re-file a section of the lawsuit in Los Angeles. “The judge only dismissed the part of the lawsuit regarding MySpace’s negligence. This move allows us to re-file the other half which involves fraud,” Loewy said. Loewy said he expects the new lawsuit to succeed in California, where MySpace is headquartered. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, who presided over the case, found MySpace to be protected under the Communication Decency Act of
1996. The act cited by the judge grants immunity to interactive online services for the content posted by their users. “MySpace had no duty to protect Julie Doe from Pete Solis’s criminal acts,” Sparks said in the court order issued Tuesday. “If anyone had a duty to protect Julie Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace.” In the ruling, Sparks noted that the girl lied about her age, posing as an 18 year old, and ignored the minimum age requirement stated by MySpace during user sign-up.
Loewy said MySpace did not do enough to protect Doe and ignored Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s recommendations on how to make the site safer for teenagers. The court order stated that in order to claim negligence on MySpace’s behalf the plaintiff must allege the existence of a duty. According to the ruling, Myspace has no legal duty to protect another from the criminal acts of a third person. Barri Wilcox, a Texas State mass communication graduate student,
Frank Bartley’s term as the first student regent of the Texas State University System was celebrated Monday in the LBJ Student Center. “When I discovered (that I could apply for this) it seemed new and interesting,” said Bartley, public administration senior. “I didn’t know anyone in politics in Texas, so it was a shot in the dark.” Bartley became the first student regent for the Texas State University System. His term expired this month. “It was a challenge being the first and creating the position, but I enjoyed it,” he said. “I got a lot of respect and people were receptive to what I had to say.” A nine-member board of regents governs the Texas State University System. Regents are appointed by the governor and approved by the State Senate. Student regents, who do not have
voting powers, are appointed by the governor and approved by the regents. “I was fairly confident that a student from our school would be selected because we have the biggest school in the system, but you never know for sure,” said President Denise Trauth. Bartley’s selection to be the system’s first student regent was a boon for Texas State. “We were very proud when he was selected but even more proud as the year went on,” Trauth said. “It was tough work and he has really performed admirably.” Bartley did a good job communicating with the students, she said. He kept up with the demands of being a student and a regent. “In November, all the schools were asking for a tuition increase and we worked out a compromise,” Bartley said. “We are waiting to see what the appropriations bill looks like.” As a student at Texas State,
Today’s Weather
Sunny
79˚/47˚
Precipitation: 10% Humidity: 31% UV: 6 High Wind: W 6 mph
Bartley was a member of the American Red Cross Club, participated in Bobcat Build and Habitat for Humanity and is one of the founders and the current president of The Loud Crowd. Bartley’s roommate Mike Strunk attended the event. “His plan is starting to follow through and you can see his professional abilities,” Strunk said. “He’s really enjoying life.” Strunk, exercise and sports science senior, talked about how Bartley took on the task of representing the system’s students. “He would come home with stacks of different books and sit in a corner of the apartment and just read,” he said. “As he read more and more, it wasn’t as big of a deal. It was cool to see him really enjoy it.” Bartley said he learned a lot in the past year. “Along the way, everyone was a huge help and I can’t thank (them) enough,” he said. “I wanted to find a way to make things better for students in Texas.”
Two-day Forecast Thursday Mostly Sunny Temp: 78°/ 55° Precip: 10%
Friday Isolated T-Storms Temp: 75°/ 61° Precip: 30%
See LOBBY, page 3
Prescription drug use rises among teens By Ashley Gwilliam The University Star
See MYSPACE, page 3
Party honors first student regent By Christina Kahlig The University Star
The San Marcos City Council made a unanimous decision Feb. 6 to extend its contract with the Winstead Consulting Group to provide lobbying services for the city. The city will pay Winstead $15,000 a month to lobby lawmakers at the state and national level to pass funding and legislation favorable to San Marcos. “Winstead Consulting Group will serve as an information resource,” said Janis Carter, managing director at the Winstead Consulting Group’s Austin office. “We will work with the city to identify pieces of legislation and issues that they want us to be proactive on.” Winstead has an office in Washington D.C., which handles matters on the federal level, and an office in Austin, which handles local and state initiatives. Both offices will be working with San Marcos in the coming year. “There are certain things they do that I don’t think any council members can accomplish,” said John Thomaides, Place 6 city councilman. “They help us navigate the system in Washington.” Winstead is helping San Marcos procure funds from the federal and state government for the freight rail relocation. The freight line running through downtown San Marcos would then become part of a commuter train system connecting Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding communities. The freight lines being replaced will continue to operate, but will be relocated outside of San Marcos and other urban areas. “The commuter train between Austin and San Antonio is the plan of the future,”
Monty Marion/Star photo CUTTING OUT: Frank Bartley, Texas State’s first student regent, cuts into a cake made in his honor during his going-away party Monday at the LBJ Student Center.
The number of U.S. adolescents using illicit drugs has continued to slowly decline, while prescription drug and overthe-counter cold medicine abuse has remained relatively high, according to the 2006 Monitoring the Future survey. Although illicit drug use showed only a slight decline since 2005, the survey reported rates being significantly lower than peak rates during the 1990s. The survey of 50,000 participants reported 15 percent of eighth graders, 29 percent of tenth graders and 37 percent of twelfth graders said they used an illicit drug within the prior year. “Because most of the illegal drugs like LSD, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin have shown considerable declines in recent years, while the misuse of prescriptiontype drugs has been growing. The latter have become a more important part of the country’s drug problem,” said the survey’s principle investigator, Lloyd Johnston, in a recent press release. “Marijuana is still by far the most widely used of all of the illicit drugs, but even its use has been in gradual decline recently.” The U.S. has become prescription happy, said Judy Row, director of Texas State’s Drug and Alcohol Resource Center. Everything seemed to change when medications began to be advertised on television, Row said. People began to go See PRESCRIPTION, page 3
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